On July 15, 2026, the City of Edgerton received a citizen-initiated petition seeking the adoption of an ordinance prohibiting “high impact” data centers pursuant to K.S.A. 12-3013. The Johnson County Election Office certified the petition as meeting the statutory voter signature requirements for a valid petition on July 20, 2026.
During their regular business meeting held on July 23, 2026, the Edgerton City Council voted 3-1 to seek a declaratory judgement from the District Court in Johnson County to decide if the petition ordinance is legally eligible to be adopted through the petition process.
The proposed ordinance prohibits “high impact” data centers defined as “facilities whose primary purpose is the housing, operation, and maintenance of computer servers, data storage devices, networking equipment, and associated infrastructure” that “requires a peak electrical load exceeding ten (10) megawatts, or a daily water draw exceeding one hundred thousand (100,000) gallons.”
If adopted as written, the petition ordinance cannot be amended or repealed by the City Council for ten years following its adoption, unless voters amend or abolish the adopted ordinance prior to that time.
Kansas law distinguishes between legislative ordinances, which may be adopted by petition, and administrative ordinances, which may not. Because state law is not clear on whether this specific proposal counts as administrative, the City is proactively asking a District Court judge to step in and decide if the proposed ordinance is valid.
The City will also seek an injunction from the timeline defined in K.S.A. 12-3013 requiring a decision by the City Council within twenty days or an election within ninety days of the certified petition. This action temporarily pauses the statutory deadlines while a decision is rendered by the District Court.
While the judicial process is underway, the City Council also requested that staff review options for a third-party firm or firms to conduct public engagement and take community feedback from Edgerton residents that would then be used to update the City’s Unified Development Code.
